Stephanie Rice, Australian Olympic Swimmer Criticized For Choice Of Racy Swimsuit

Three-time gold medalist Stephanie Rice is facing criticism from her native Australia as she recently snapped a photo of herself wearing a revealing swimsuit that was a gift from designer Ellie Gonsalves.

Rice is only days away from departing for the 2012 London Olympics where she will be defending her women’s individual 200m and 400m medley titles as well as helping her team win the 4x200m freestyle.

The 24 year-old swimmer who has been no stranger to suggestive photos in the past didn’t think twice when she posted her photo to the popular photo sharing app Instagram, but apparently the idea of a swimmer wearing a swimsuit is too much for some people to bear.

“Thank you to the Gorgeous @elliegonsalves for my birthday @veveswimwear bikini,” she tweeted.

The initial reaction by the public seemed to center around the possible conflict that would arise should her swimsuit sponsor, Speedo, find a problem with her donning another designers apparel. However according to Adelaide Now, Rice’s representative quickly spoke up to let the public know her relationship with Speedo has been nonexistent for a while and not to worry about a possible relationship with designer Ellie Gonsalves.

“No, Stephanie isn’t an ambassador for Ellie Gonsalves, she just loves their stuff. She doesn’t have any relationship with Speedo anymore so there are no restrictions there” they said.

The swimmer that has recently been polled as one of Australia’s favorite athletes soon faced a backlash from Twitter followers claiming that the photo went too far, especially in light of of the recent gun controversy surrounding other Australian Olympic team members.

Do you think Stephanie Rice’s photo below is too racy to be posted online given her position with the Australian Olympic swim team?